Embedded Android

                              Having plans to create a device that would change this world ? Are you an embedded programmer skilled in doing some stuffs with micro-controller kits. Time to move on to next level. Next generation arm  based embedded processor kits have arrived. These have already been introduced to run on operating systems like Windows CE, linux, android and more on.

Features of using micro-processors over micro-controllers:

* Connectivity: 

Today, each and every embedded device present before us are connected with each other to form an network. This would be a norm in future which your device must imply with. Connectivity might be either through Wifi, Bluetooth or Ethernet. To add this support to a standalone microcontroller kit would be tiresome. This is the main feature where embedded processors come into play, where the SoC Chip manufacturer handles this for you. These processors are placed on the development board that contains on board Wifi/BT combo chips and come with an Ethernet port. On the Software side, many source operating systems like embedded linux, embedded android are available which provide us with a reliable stack on top of which our applications need to developed. Hence most of our board-bringup and assembling is done by SoC vendors itself. With considerable efforts reduced, our role would be narrowed in developing the application.

* Display :

It would be weird these days if your product comes with a LED/LCD Display to display some text. User Interface [UI] has already been influential because at the end of the day, the user's decision is going to decide the fate of the product. High Resolution Display panels with Resistive/Capacitive Touch Screen would absolutely overthrow its LCD/LED counterparts in this era. These embedded development kits have provisions for connecting several kind of displays ranging from 3" inch to 10" inch. To be noted, they have HDMI ports too which provides rich color resolutions.

* Multimedia :

Have you ever tried to add Audio support for your controller kit?. With these embedded development kits, It is much easier to play audio and video files. Moreover, each kit comes with its own graphical processing unit[GPU] which provides immense gaming performance. To believe it, you need to experience it by playing gaming apps on a development kit running on Android. We prefer Ashphalt !!!!!!

* Storage :

Each embedded processor has its own internal storage in the form of flash[eMMC], whose size from 1GB to 16GB. Hence Data Storage must not be a problem.

* Hardware Interfaces:

Today, Embedded processors come with different interfaces which are not available in conventional microcontroller kits. They include
# USB
# PCI
# SATA

Each of the above interface has its own use case and in turn can provide varied functionalities.

* Camera :

Do you want your device to be bit more realistic manipulating some real time data. Then your device needs to have a camera. These kits have provision for those too.

Myths:

* Power Consumption:

Obviously, microcontrollers outplay these kits in terms of power consumption. But recent technological developments have shed some light onto that area. This might range from advanced suspend/resume operations to low power consuming ARM Cores.Soon this gap would be narrowed down. In the future, you can expect devices that consume almost little amount of energy.

* Complexity of Operating Systems:

Real Time Operating systems tend to be more complex from a developer point of view. But in reality, you have got more advantages than disadvantages. Nowadays, several Developer communities are available which openly offer support to any kind of problems faced while developing a device.

* Cost :

Embedded Development kits actually tend to be cost-effective because they provide end-to-end solution for making device. It is really good to see low cost development kits to hit the market. Front runners among them are Raspberry Pi and Snapdragon Board.

The continuation of these posts mainly target embedded developers who are aspiring to bring out some new innovation to this world like us. To begin with, we recommend you with the following kits.

•  Freescale imx6 based processors.
•  Wandboard Solo,Dual or Quad.
•  Nitrogen 6x Kits
•  UDOO imx6 kits.
•  Ankaa Development Kit 
•  Raspberry Pi
•  Qualcomm Snapdragon

Regarding the Operating system, we prefer "Embedded Android". To know why, wait for the next post..